Measuring device for wire cloth



May 27, 1930. c. M. MCCARTHY 1,759,992

MEASURING DEVICE FOR WIRE CLOTH Filed NOV.` 25, 1925 Patented May 27, 1930 TES YP T'E'N `CHARLES M.MCCARTHY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA MEASURIN G DEVICE FOR WIRE CLOTH Application 'nlea November 25, 1925. serial Nb. 71,365.

This invention relatesto a measuring device and particularly to a measuring device for fiexible material, particularly flexible sheet material, and whilevth'e 'invention is adapted for measuring any such material, it Y has been especially used for measuring wire cloth or screen. 4As is well knowntothose skilled inthe art, various kinds of wire cloth and screen are now sold' in many stores. vIt has heretofore been Alargely the practice to roll the material out on the `floor or counter and measure the same With a yard stick or tape. lVith the present invention, the material can be unrolled on a cutting table and measured with great accuracy.

'It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a measuring device' having a friction drum betweenwhich and an 4adjacent member the material is traversed to rotate the drum, an indicating wheel being connected to they drum so as to be moved, step by step by the rotation of said drum.

It is also an object of the invention to providey such a measuring device kcomprising means preventing rotation of saidfmeasuring wheel in a reverse direction even though the friction drum is reversely rotated.

It -is a further objectof the' invention lt provide a measuring device comprising a friction drum lcarrying an'indicating means, an indicating wheel disposed Vadjacent said drum'adapted to berotated step by stepk proportionately'to the rotation of said drum, said drum comprising an actuating means for said step by step mechanism.

It is more specifically an object ofthe invention to provide a measuring device comprising a shaft, arfriction drum/journaledon said shaft, an indicating wheeladjacentsaid '40 drum also rotatable'about said'sha'ft and having a ratchetfdi'sk, oscillatable mechanism pivotally mounted onl a" member carried 'on said shaftforrotating said ratchetdisk step by step, means on said drum-for actuating said oscillating mechanism, and means for preventing rotation of said ratchet disk in a reverse direction.y

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be fully set forthinlthe 50 following vdescription-made in-1connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which like yreference characters referto the same parts throughoutV the different views, and in which, f

Fig lis ak viewin front elevation device' Fig. 2 is aview in side elevationl with a portion of the device removed;

- Fig. Sisa yvertical section taken :onv the line` 3--3 of Fig. 2, as indicatedvrby; the arrows;

kFigetisa vertical section taken on the line 4d4ofFig 3,y as -indicated by the arrows; an .Figf l5 is ay horiontal section taken lon: the lline' 5 5 `oflfig. r3, as indicated by the `arrows; l c

- Referringto the drawings', a measuringde- .vice is shown comprisinga shafts,-which shaft is reversely bent substantially'atzright angles and has one'endfportionl faxjournaled in a bearing 7 vaboutra substantiallyI horizontal axis, said' bearing 7 `bein,f, z;1secured toa support orl table 8 some distance inthe rear of the main portion of shaft 6. The lInainportion of shaft 6` thus projects at one side-of bearing 7 so that the measuring Edevice can project overl the edge portion ofa; str-ip of flexible'material, such as a wire .screen ,'9 which may be drawn from` aroll over a table or support'. 'Theshaft' 6 is shown ashaving ay coupling collar "10. at .one end :secured thereto by a .pinl 11 having its end projecting toreceive .the outer end of a JshaftflQ which may be heldin collar y10 by a set screw 13. 'j i The shaft 12 is shown'ha'vingqan annular groove 12a into which projects a smallV headedscrew 14 carriedzin the end of thevhub 15EL of a yfriction drumn15. Said friction drum has a projecting cylindrical portionb-of smaller 'diameter on the exterior of. which graduations 15d are formed. kvkWhile these graduations may indicate different distances, according tothe size of the device, in practice the device has 'been used Vwith Isuchrindications 15d representing inches. The drum 15v has an interior wall 15c to which is `secured by nu-ttedy screws 17' having countersunk headsfan eccentric"118,7.saidv eccentric being ofcylindrical Vform' and having a recess 18a of the j tgz.

j therein fitting about shaft 12, the portion of saidshaft embraced by eccentric 18 and adj acent thereto being cut away to have a substantially sector-shaped cross section 12b,'as shown in Fig. 4. Secured to the shaft 12 within drum 15 and at one side of portion 12b of shaft VV12 is a collar 19, which collar has rigidly secured-theretol and projecting upwardly and rearwardly therefrom, an arm 19a. Pivotedk adjacent the outer end of arm 19a byl a headed and nutted screw 20, is a york 21. The yoke 21 extends to the right, as seen in Fig. 3, from the arm 19:L and,isprovided'withparallel side portions 21a, which portions 2,1a embrace or are disposed at opposite sides ofthe eccentric 18. The' yoke 21 has its other end projecting beyond lpivot 2O and has pivoted f thereto by the screw 22 a downwardly extend ing arm 23 having a tooth 23a projecting laterally therefrom for a purpose to be later described. The lower end'of arm 23 is connected tofonefend of a spring 24,l the other end of which is secured to the lower end of Ya downwardly and laterally curved pin Y25 which projects vupwardly through shaft V12 and collar 19 andV is rigidly heldV therein. Shaft 12, at oneside of the groove l2ahas threaded therein aradially extending pin 28 having its outer end pointed and extending over the periphery of portion 15b of the drum` 15 andforming an indicating pointer for the graduations 15d. An indicating wheel or Vdrum 26: is also journaled on shaft 12 and is held from longitudinal movement toward drumv15 by the collarf19 and from longitudinalmove'ment 'away from said drum by a pin 27 vsecured in shaft .12`extending radially therefrom and havingk itsend pointed and bent to project over the periphery of wheel 26,v which yperiphery is provided with num'-v bered graduations 26a, said pin 27 thus forming. a 'pointer for said graduations. While the graduations 26a may be spaced to reprefore, and its tooth 23*l form a'ratchet operating dog. The arm19a has rigidly secured thereto by screws 30, a bent arm 31 to the outer end of which is pivoted by the headed Land nutted screw 32, aswinging arm 33. the

Vother end of which has projecting therefrom a pin 34'which is also adapted to projectbetween the teeth 29@y of ratchet 29. The arm 33 rhas a small lug at its end in which is secured one end of va spring 35, the other end of which is secured to a small lug at the upper outer 'end of arm 19a. A block or weight 36 is secured to one side of drum 15 adjacent its inner wall to form a counterbalance for the eccentric 18.

In operation, the friction drum 15 is dis-V posed with its axis directly above andparallel with the Vaxis of arshaft 37 having a roller 38 ournaled thereon andheld in place by collars 39 pinned'to said shaft. The roller 38 may be provided with anti-friction bearings, (not shown). Theshaft 6 and parts wardly by a spring 16 secured to shaftv6 and to support 8 so that friction drum 15 is yieldingly held downwardagainst roller 38.

In operation, whenfapiece of clothmaterial 9 is to be measured .the drum 15 will be set so that the end of pointer 28 is in alinementrwith graduation 15d which is marked zero and the indicating wheel 26 will be set so that the numberedy graduation 26a which is marked zero will be in Val-inernent with pointer 27. The material-9 is disposed between the bottom ofthe friction drum 15 and the topv of roller 38 and said material can be inserted between these parts by raising shaft 6 against the tension of spring 16,

orV merely pulling the front edge of the ma-v terial between drum 15 and roller 38. The' material is now drawn forwardly and drum Acarried thereby, preferably, are urged downj n I 15 is rotatedby the lineal travel of thema- Y terial. As shown in Fig. 1, the periphery of drum 15, preferably, is knurledor rough- 4 ened so that it will frictionallyvengage the material. This drum 15 rotatesy the eccentricv 18, which is revolved about shaft 12 and engages the side portions 21a. of yoke 21,V so that said yoke is oscillated about its pivot. 20. l The arm 23EIL is raised by the outer end of said yoke against the tension of spring Y 24 so that tooth 23a engages a tooth29a of the ratchet'29 and moves saidratchet forwardly the distance of one tooth. -The pin*` l 34 at this time slides over the-curved edge ofthe adjacenttooth 29a and clicks or is drawn back along the straight side of the.

tooth by the spring 35:A T he arm 33 moving outwardly against the tension of spring 35 allows pin 34 to move pastthe tooth adjacent the same. The yoke21 is thus-,moved to'move ratchet ldisk 29 adistance of one toothfor each rotation of thedrum 15.y As stated, drum 15 has been, in practice, constructed to have its peripheral circumference equal exactly to one foot andratchet disk 29( and indicating wheel 26V arethus moved the distance between graduations 26"L for each= rotation of drum 15. Thenumbered indications26a, therefore, will indicate the nurn-V ber'of feet of the material which have beeny drawn through between drum 15 and roller 38 and numbered graduations 15d will indicate theinches of material Ldrawn through after the'last movement-of wheel 26. After the movement of yoke 21 by the eccentric 18 the yoke and arm 23 will be drawn to normal position by spring 24. The pin 34 prevents any reverse movement of wheel 26 so that after the cloth has been drawn out a certain distance and this distance or length of cloth is indicated on wheel 26, said wheel cannot be reversely moved to indicate a shorter length or distance. If the operator, therefore, after drawing out a certain length of the material, should have his attention diverted, or should stop and engage in conversation, there will be no uncertainty as to the amount of goodsl dispensed. The indicating wheel 26 will still indicate the amount of goods moved between the rollers and the operator can resume the dispensing of the cloth without any danger of the position of the wheel 26 having been changed. The non-reversible feature of this wheel therefore forms a valuable safety feature. It is also obvious that the machine can be used to measure tape or other flexible material, such as rope.

It is also obvious that applicants shaft 6 and drum l5 can be moved along the material to measure the same.

From the above description it is seen that applicant has provided avery simple and very accurate and efficient measuring device. In practice, the roller 88 is made to run very freely so that there is no slipping of the cloth relatively to the drum l5. In a test made by the State of Minnesota, the device showed an error of one leighth of one inch in 210 feet of wire cloth measured. The structure is eX- tremely simple and the device can be easily and inexpensively produced. The same has been amply demonstrated in `actual practice and has been very successful in commercial use.

It will, of course, be understood,that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of applicants invention, which, generally stated, consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects above set forth, in the novel parts and combinations of parts disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A measuring device for ieXible material having in combination, a shaft, a friction drinn journaled on said shaft, an indicator wheel rotatable about said shaft, a ratchet disk secured to said wheel, a member oscillatable about a lined axis and supported by said shaft, means movable by said drum operatively connected to said member, a dog for moving said ratchet disk carried by said member, a spring fixed at one end and connected at its other end to said dog, a resiliently controlled ratchet engaging means for prevent-ing movement of said ratchet disk in a reverse direction, and means adjacent said drum and between which and said drum the material is moved for rotating said drum.

2.Y A measuring device for flexible material having in combination, a shaft, a friction drum journaled on-said shaft, and adapted to have its peripheral surface move in contact with the material'to be-ineasured, an indicater wheel rotata'bleabout said shaft, a ratchet member carried by said wheel, an arm rigidly carried b said shaft, a yokefpivoted to-said arm, an eccentric on said drum embraced by said yoke for moving said yoke, a ratchet member engaging dog carried by said yoke for moving said ratchet in one direction, resilient means connected to said dog and secured to said shaft, and means for preventing movement of said ratchet member, and wheel in areverse direction. l

3. The structure set forth in claim 2, sai last mentioned means including a ratchetengaging member, a pivoted arm carrying said member and resilient means moving said member toward said ratchet.

4j A measuring device for fiexible material having in combination, a shaft, a friction drum journaled on said shaft adapted to have its peripheral surface moved by contact with the material to be measured, a cylindrical member of smaller diameter than said drum rigid therewith and carried thereby at one side thereof having indications on its periphery indicating units of material passing and engaging said drum, a second drum journaled on said shaft and rotatable thereon independently of said first mentioned drum having indications on its pe-y riphery indicating larger units of material measured, a step by step propelling mechanism for said second drum disposed within said drums, means movable by revolution of said first mentioned drum for actuating said mechanism and pointers cooperating respectively with said indications.

5. A measuring device for ieXible material` having in combination, a stationary shaft, a drum Journaled for rotation on said shaft and adapted to have its peripheral surfacey moved in contact with the material to be measured, said drum having an open side, an indicator drum journaled on said shaft and having an open side facing the open side of said first mentioned drum, thus forming a casing, said indicator drum having indications on its periphery, means within said casing movable by said first mentioned drum to rotate said indicator drum one step for each complete rotation of said first mentioned drum.

6. A measuring device for flexible material, having in combination, a shaft, a drum journaled for rotation thereon adapted tok have its peripheral surface moved in Contact with the material to be measured, said drum having a closed side and an open side, and

having a cylindrical portion at one side there-- of and of smaller diameter than said drum, having graduations on its periphery, an indicator drum Journaled on said shaft having an open side facing the open side of said first mentioned drum extending slightly thereinto thus forming aV easing, means Within said casing for moving said' indieatorirdrum onek step for each revolution of said first men- Vtioned drum, a pointer carried by said shaft cooperating lwith said graduations andV a pointer Carried byl said shaft cooperating with the indications on said indicator drum.

in testimony whereof aiix my signature. CHARLES M. MCCARTHY. 

